DECEMBER 2018 – Seconds ticking away until New Year’s! Well, to be fair, still far more than a handful remain of the current year, but writing an ever so slightly earlier retrospective than usual seems the right way to close out the year. Not going to end the year with a whole heap of procrastination, nope, never, haha. As one may have guessed, this month was a collection of sporadic efforts in various arenas of life. With the holidays, family, work, and social pursuits taking priority. Had a wonderful Christmas holiday and I’m looking forward to kicking off a year full of large pursuits in the coming months.
Happily, December worked out well in my writing life, as I picked up my new book project and did a lot of brainstorming in my creative journal. Pages keep getting added on with new ideas as I’m growing it further and further. Once I have a full concept for a story arc, I will switch over to actually writing the first draft of the book. Still a ways off from that point as I only have perhaps the first third of the story arc plotted out in big strokes. With a feathering of details that I’d like to incorporate. Several characters, the setting, and key story events have been sketched out. A lot of the other finer points and often full on re-writes happen once I actually sit down and start writing the draft. As naturally, ‘better’ ideas can come to you when you are in the flow of the writing process and thinking creatively.
Didn’t realize how energizing it would be to get back to writing after spending the prior few months designing other side projects (which are all still in the works too, haha). I would just say that my mind is most content, when it has a fiery and exciting art/writing project to obsess over and bring to fruition.
This month’s post photo comes from a hike this past weekend on a particularly warm winter’s day. The trails had taken us through a stand of pine trees that gave the air a fresh scent, the ground a soft blanket’s worth of cover measured in years worth of pine needles, and the light a magical diffused glow. In the near distance, just beyond those trees, is a quiet pond, fed by a number of natural springs coming down from the hillside(s) above. Serene is certainly a word that comes to mind when exploring such places as this.
Outside of creative pursuits and searching out fresh air free enough to nurture my thoughts, I have been read quite a few books this past year. Don’t have a number to hurl at you here, but between large 750+ page works, I scattered in a bunch of non-fiction titles. I like feeding all areas of my interests. For 2019 I see more of the same, with that balance, though I’d also like to read more work of the great philosophers and more short form fiction. Kind of flip the pillars of my reading habit all around, while still feathering in the non-fiction titles. My current read? About a quarter of the way through ‘Caliban’s War’ by James S. A. Corey, the second book in their Expanse series. Guess my sci-fi cook continues!
Side note: Introverts For Nature continues on; a creation to help give back in even a small way, and do something to help the environment, local wildlife, and instill a further sense of connected-ness to place. Have kept it up for twelve months, and surely intend to keep that moving forward as well!
Here’s to a wonderful 2019 everyone, thanks for stopping by!
~ CS
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